23.1.06

So the Sensenbrenner/Conyers Analog Hole bill requires almost all analog video devices to comply with 2 technologies: CGMS-A and VEIL. What are these technologies that a new law will be required in your TV and your PC? Nuh-uh, not telling.

After some discussion, the company helpfully explained that I could get the spec, if I first signed their license agreement. The agreement requires me (a) to pay them $10,000, and (b) to promise not to talk to anybody about what is in the spec. In other words, I can know the contents of the bill Congress is debating, but only if I pay $10k to a private party, and only if I promise not to tell anybody what is in the bill or engage in public debate about it.Worse yet, this license covers only half of the technology: the VEIL decoder, which detects VEIL signals. There is no way you or I can find out about the encoder technology that puts VEIL signals into video.